Key elements of a strategy at enterprise level
MNEs engagement in extending social security examples of practices
33
guidance. Other international references on this topic could be consulted, and especially the World Health Organization‘s resources on prenatal and maternity care
7
as well as essential medicines and health products
8
. Also, some of the elements covered by the United Nations General assembly Resolution on Universal Health Coverage adopted on
12 December 2012 might be useful, especially as regards special attention on exclusions the resolution presents the main health challenges today from a public health perspective
which might provide insights on what should not be excluded from internally defined minimum healthcare packages at the enterprise level.
The key steps related to the design and implementation of such a global strategy aiming at ensuring an internal minimum level of social protection to all of the company‘s
workers are illustrated by figure 9. The identified process is detailed step by step in the following paragraphs.
Figure 10. Key steps for the design and implementation of a global strategy to ensure social protection
coverage for all workers at enterprise level
Source: Elaborated by the authors.
Engage with social partners At all stages of such private sector initiatives, it is important to engage with social
partners inside and outside the company. –
Inside the company, it is important to engage with workers representatives. First, they should have good insights on the social protection needs of workers. Second, it is a
necessity to inform them it is mandatory in many countries since it occasions a modification in employment conditions. Third, it improves the impact of such
programmes when workers‘ representatives actively contribute to the implementation. –
Outside the company, bringing up the subject among employers and workers representatives at local, regional, national and international levels has the potential to
greatly contribute to social dialogue on the extension of social protection, an aspect that will be developed in subsection 3.3.
c the necessary pharmaceutical supplies on prescription by medical or other qualified practitioners;
d hospitalisation where necessary; e dental care, as prescribed; and
f medical rehabilitation, including the supply, maintenance and renewal of prosthetic and orthopae
dic appliances, as prescribed.‖ International Labour Organisation: Medical Care and Sickness Benefits Convention, 1969 No. 130, Article 13.
7
Many resources available on the World Health Organisation web page dedicated to this issue: http:www.who.intmaternal_child_adolescenttopicsmaternalmaternal_perinatalenindex.html.
8
Many resources available on the World Health Organisation web page dedicated to this issue: http:www.who.intmedicinesenindex.html.
34
MNEs engagement in extending social security examples of practices
Take stock of the existing provisions and conduct a gap analysis The stocktaking relates to the evaluation of the need for social protection and the
coverage gaps in comparison with the company‘s ambition defined at an early stage. In order to be able to assess the need, it is paramount to have a clear picture of the social
protection from which workers already benefit in each subsidiary. This implies the collection of the following information:
– social protection legal coverage in each country of operation i.e. what national social
security schemes are in place and what benefits are currently offered to workers? and assurance of compliance i.e. workers are affiliated and social security contributions
are effectively being paid regularly by the subsidiary;
– social protection complementary schemes offered by the subsidiaries by category of
workers, if applicable; –
quality of service received feedbacks from beneficiaries, especially when trying to assess the quality of healthcare facilities accessed by workers as well as their OOP
expenditure.
The stocktaking phase should allow for a clear vision on key indicators, and in particular the ILO methodology to develop basic indicators can be used
9
: –
type of benefit covered the coverage scope; –
coverage rate the extent of coverage: who is covered for each type of benefit, in percentage of workers; and
– benefit level measure of the adequacy of benefits in comparison to the impact on the
beneficiary should the risk covered occur. In the case of benefits implying a third party for service delivery like medical care
insurance for instance, information on the quality of services delivered is also necessary. Information on the extent of coverage as regards dependants of workers family should
also be collected.
During that stocktaking phase, a benchmark can also be conducted in order to provide a picture of local practices on social protection complementary coverage among other
companies in the same country, including competitors and sub-contractors. This is in accordance with the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational
Enterprises and Social Policy The MNE Declaration
10
. Based on the information collected, the company can make comparisons and identify
gaps of social protection coverage that could be filled by its new strategy. Here, the iterative process is fundamental and the company might want to fine-tune its global
strategy and the orientations that were defined at an early stage in terms of ambition content of the internal minimum benefit package, time line for implementation, etc..
Often, the challenge is to prioritize between all identified gaps, taking into account that
9
See: International Labour Organisation: World Social Security Report 20102011 Geneva, 2011.
10
―Wages, benefits and conditions of work offered by multinational enterprises should be not less favourable to the workers than those offered by comparable employers in the country concerned‖
International Labour Organisation Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, Article 33.
MNEs engagement in extending social security examples of practices
35
coverage gaps may be truly different from one country of operation to the other or even between subsidiaries in the same country. Global guidelines should be designed
accordingly.
Design an adapted response at subsidiary level When implementing the global strategy at subsidiary level: it would be interesting for
the company to gather information on the national strategy on social protection and social policies in general in order to anticipate probable changes in regulations and to evaluate
the coherence of its own approach within the local context. When priorities are established and contingencies to be covered are selected, the company has to set minimum levels of
social protection for all workers. The challenge is to set standard levels that can be adapted to each national context and legislation but that are still meaningful for the company at the
global level.
Monitor coverage and measure impact As illustrated by the case studies, there is room for developing tools in order to
properly monitor and evaluate such private sector initiatives. When designing monitoring tools, it would be of interest to consider a set of harmonized indicators for which data is
regularly collected through existing global monitoring channels. Using a set of harmonized indicators as part of local and global reporting tolls would enable a clear, consolidated
picture of who is covered by what and how, and would foster transparency.
When looking at impact evaluation, it could go beyond workers‘ satisfaction level and include impacts on workers‘ health and finances as well as a standardized economic impact
evaluation on the company‘s business i.e. productivity, etc.. This last element should help assess and quantify the effects identified in part 3.1.1.
Monitoring, reporting and evaluating such programmes is also a way of ensuring sustainability and quality of benefits by regularly assessing their adequacy and their
integration within the business model of the company. Before the possible interactions between such global strategies developed by MNEs
and national strategies for the extension of social protection are presented, it is important to review the ILO framework on this topic, which is the object of the following subsection.